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My Terminally Ill Mother-In-Law's ER Nurse: "Our Hospital System Has Been Overwhelmed by Covid." [1]
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Date: 2023-08-03
This is a personal story. But because it hits on a subject that may be making a comeback, I feel it is helpful to share it. Covid is still here. Despite our fondest wishes and deepest hopes, it never left. There has been clear evidence of an uptick, but that is not easy to find. As it turns out, certain data is no longer tracked. As that applies to my family, is complicated.
Last night my mother-in-law, who has been dealing with a blood cancer called Myeloid Dysplastic Syndrome, which by now has apparently transitioned into leukemia, had severe lower abdominal pains. Because she has recently been placed on Decitabine, she was alarmed and went to Sentera Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, VA.
This was at midnight.
She is still in the ER. I was told by her nurse that we should consider ourselves lucky she was not still in the waiting room. They scheduled her for full hospital admission some 14 hours ago.
I do respect and appreciate the hard work of the staff. Nurses have an almost impossible role now.
But as you might imagine, the delay did not sit well with me. I am already on high Covid alert because Valerie (Mrs. Claw) had surgery yesterday and nobody, I mean nobody, is wearing masks. I do in enclosed areas. I will have to start being more vigilant myself again. I was stunned when the nurse in Virginia, after having already informed me that I was lucky my mother-in-law was not being forced to receive care in a waiting room, told me why 30 people were ahead of her waiting for a bed:
Covid. Her exact words were “Covid has overwhelmed the hospital system.” She did not phrase this as, “Since Covid things have been hard,” she was clear that Covid is back doing its thing and wreaking havoc.
Honestly, this is havoc we have wreaked on ourselves. The Billionaire Boys Club of Corporate America Inc. has decreed from their golf carts on high that the peasants shall “reconvene in the office, post haste.” No co-morbidities are being respected. I know this for a fact. I also know that the main enforcement of this has begun in earnest in the past 30 days. Coincidentally, so has the resurgence of Covid. It is almost like that human physiology and viral science has not changed since 2020.
But if you need to know the “magic word” the doctor must use to allow you to work from home, that information is here:
Clearly major corporations had thought, because of their self-importance, that Covid had morphed into something less virulent and harmless. They must have thought that it became the first virus in the history of epidemiology to stop replicating. Additionally they must have been under the impression that humans could not make each other sick. But we don’t have the data we need.
After May 11, states and jurisdictions will no longer be required to report cases to the CDC, so the data the agency will receive won’t allow them to accurately capture the burden of COVID-19 cases in any given county. Hospitalization data will replace it The CDC will now rely on hospital admissions data, which hospitals will continue to report to the CDC. Hospitalizations are “the main driver of community levels of COVID-19,” said Dr. Brendan Jackson, lead of the CDC’s COVID-19 response, during a briefing. In a May 5 report, CDC scientists conducted analyses comparing hospital admission data and its correlation to community levels of infections and found a 99% concordance between the two. “We will still be able to tell that it’s snowing, even though we are no longer counting every snowflake,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, CDC’s principal deputy director.
The problem with that last statement is that the lowered vigilance in counting the snowflakes, also leads to an apathy towards clearing the roads.
And the roads are getting a might bit icy.
Dr. Leana Wen: We are now in the fourth summer of the coronavirus pandemic. Every summer thus far, the United States has seen an increase in Covid-19 cases. Some of this may be due to the cyclical nature of the coronavirus — we’ve seen an increase in cases, followed by a relatively quieter period, followed by another increase. This may well be the pattern going forward, with two or more of these waves of infections every year. One of the reasons for a rise in cases during summer, specifically, may be that people get together indoors when the weather is very hot. This could also explain why there are increases in infections around holidays, when people gather in larger groups in enclosed spaces.
We have anti-vaxxers in full denial, as the disease spreads, again. Those people are at work with forced into the office workers who are in some cases, at great risk. As I have said, co-morbidities are being denied as a medically justifiable reason to work from home. This is Disaster Stew, with this recipe’s main ingredient being stupidity.
Hundreds of people still die from this daily, and the number may rise. Misinformation abounds, and the data we need to isolate and respond is no longer tracked. Covid is endemic, and at this point, for most a nuisance. But for some it is still deadly. This must be respected. It isn’t. CEOs worshipping at the teet of their Cryptomaster, Elon Musk, wave their hands mockingly while people continue to suffer. There is no old normal. A continued insistence towards reclaiming the old normal, will only imperil the safety of those forced to live with the new normal.
As for my mother-in-law, she is still in the ER, waiting on a bed, as if the hospital is a M.A.S.H. unit and we should feel lucky she is not in a tent.
Overwhelmed is the exact word used. Covid is overwhelming hospital systems again. You could call and they will be glad to tell you. I wouldn’t though, because they are too busy doing their jobs saving lives the best they can.
If only Wall Street viewed a human being as more than a “resource” maybe we could get somewhere.
It is easy to make pronouncements from a golf cart while on an interview with CNBC.
The course is lush and green, and the weather is warm.
It is far from the falling snow too many no longer see as important, to count.
-ROC
Hey Daily Kos Family! We just got back from Val’s surgery! But the work for a better world never stops so I just keep writing!
Valerie just had surgery yesterday. Bills are stacking up fast on us. She is healing but will be on dialysis in the near future.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/3/2185083/-My-Terminally-Ill-Mother-In-Law-s-ER-Nurse-Our-Hospital-System-Has-Been-Overwhelmed-by-Covid
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